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The research impact elaborated in this case study was facilitated through the Human Rights and Terrorism project, which was led by Conor Gearty between 2005 and 2008. Through a series of seminars on accommodating the demands of human rights alongside the interests of national security, the Human Rights and Terrorism project engaged with policy makers and those concerned with criminal justice and anti-terrorist measures. Research produced by Gearty in connection with the seminars shaped parts of the Counter-Terrorism Act 2008 so as to integrate it within the traditional criminal law model.
This case study focuses on the impact on the legal and policy debate at the domestic and international level of research carried out within the Centre for Research in Law (CRiL) on the legal protection of fundamental rights in situations of exception.
In particular, it discusses how the research in question has:
(a) assisted NGOs in shaping their strategies;
(b) informed the debate within international organisations;
(c) contributed to raising public awareness of issues relating to respect for fundamental rights in the context of counter-terrorism.
By raising awareness of the relevant legal constraints upon States and by assisting NGOs and international organizations, the research has contributed to reinforcing the protection of the fundamental rights of individuals belonging to specific groups and, more broadly, to the strengthening of the rule of law at both the domestic and international level.
This case study describes the impact of the work by Professor Douwe Korff, usually working with Dr Ian Brown of the Oxford Internet Institute and UK and European non-governmental organisations, on the policies of the EU and the Council of Europe relating to the Internet, ubiquitous computing and the use of social media.The issues addressed range from freedom of expression on the Internet and the use of social media for political activism to the human rights aspects of the proposed (but defeated) anti-counterfeiting agreement, ACTA, but the work focusses on data protection. Specifically, the work impacted on the drafting of the proposed EU Data Protection Regulation; on European policies on privacy and terrorism, social media and free speech; on the priorities of the Council of Europe in relation to the Internet and cybercrime; and on the defeat of ACTA.
This case study focuses on the right to assemble and to protest through International human rights' law. It has impacted upon judicial rulings of human rights' compliant approaches to monitoring and policing peaceful protest. Sustained research with the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe's Office of Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) has increased national and international understandings of and respect for one of the fundamental human freedoms through the development of the Guidelines on Freedom of Peaceful Assembly (Jarman et al. 2010). These guidelines are increasingly recognised as international soft law standards and they have been used by international and national human rights' organisations throughout eastern Europe and the south Caucasus including the United Nations. The beneficiaries of this research impact are governments and NGOs working across eastern Europe, the south Caucasus and central Asia. They include Amnesty International, Human Rights' Watch, Helsinki Foundation and the International Foundation for Human Rights (FIDH).
University of Bristol research into international, regional and national mechanisms for preventing torture is at the root of important changes in the operation and working practices of the key bodies involved. The UN Subcommittee on Prevention of Torture, the domestic legislation and policies adopted by national governments and the work of organisations set up by individual states to prevent torture have all been deeply and directly affected by Bristol's insights. The AHRC, which funded the research from 2006 to 2009, described the impact of the Bristol project as "dramatic". In the AHRC's judgment, it not only improved institutional processes but actually reduced the probability of torture taking place around the world.
The problem of how to combat terrorism while respecting fundamental values has become increasingly acute. The research has addressed this problem by influencing the formation, design, development, and governance of counter-terrorism laws through recommendations for legal and policy reform directed at promoting and strengthening key values which cohere around the concept of `constitutionalism' (defined in 2 below). The recommendations have been endorsed by policy reviewers primarily in the UK but also in Australia.
Since the 1990s, honour crimes, including femicide and forced marriage, have received increasing attention, elicited by high-profile cases in the media, condemnation by the United Nations and international as well as domestic human rights groups. Research on honour crimes, necessarily global in scope, has been crucial to better understanding these crimes and developing coordinated responses. Professor Lynn Welchman and colleagues have substantially contributed to this evolving research base, offering a definition of honour crimes and an approach to combating such crimes that has influenced the UK statutory guidance and training followed by the police, NHS and social services.
Research by Raab (1998-2013) on data protection, privacy and surveillance has influenced political debate and regulatory practice. First, Raab's central role in reports for the UK Information Commissioner's Office and the House of Lords and his advisory work with NGOs have contributed to a more robust regulatory framework for information privacy and have informed media and NGO critiques of the social ramifications of surveillance. Second, his insights about the need to understand privacy as a social good have informed the principles and practices underpinning information processing in several areas of UK and Scottish Government policy, including health, social care, digital public services and ICT, as well as informing regulatory practice in Canada and Australia.